


The Lion, The Fox & The Wolf

by SugarSkull



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: BAMF Stiles, Derek and Stiles are Mates, Emissary Stiles Stilinski, Magical Stiles Stilinski, Stiles-centric, Templars
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-20
Updated: 2013-08-22
Packaged: 2017-12-24 03:46:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/934933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SugarSkull/pseuds/SugarSkull
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“The lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten wolves.” Giovanna said, as though the phrase had been repeated in her head over and over her entire life, as Stiles fumbled around with the ancient dagger. "But you also need to be the hunter to set the traps and a wolf to kill the fox."</p><p>"This whole lions, foxes, and wolves analogy thing is going to get confusing, isn't it?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“Dude, wait up!” Stiles shouted as he ran up to his best friend with a huge smile on his face.

“What’s up? Did Lydia kiss you again?” Scott joked, earning a playful punch on the shoulder from Stiles.

“No dude, guess who’s coming back to Beacon Hills?”

“Derek is coming back?” An undecipherable look passed Stiles face, but it was quickly replaced with a smile again before Scott could notice it.

“No, Aunt Gia! Remember her? She used to force us to go to mass on Sundays with her and my mom and then would take us out for ice cream and to shoot cans in the woods.” Stiles was basically jumping up and down with excitement.

Scott remembers Stiles's aunt, Giovanna. She and Stiles were glued at the hip when his mom was alive. When they had sleepovers at her place, she would tell them stories about mythical creatures in renaissance Italy in fights against good and evil. It’s kind of funny now, Scott thought to himself, how they basically are in similar stories as the ones she used to tell. 

“I remember your dad flipping out, because six year old shouldn't hold guns, yet the very next week we would be there again. Where was she anyways?”

“Teaching in the Amazon; she knows like, seven languages.” Stiles pulled an envelope from his bag and took a picture out from it to show to Scott. It was Stiles aunt hugging two kids with what looked like diplomas.

“That’s really cool!”

“The letter said she would be arriving in a weeks time and it just arrived today, but it was dated last week so she should be arriving tonight actually!” Stiles plucked the picture out of Scott’s hands and placed it back in his bag. “So I’m going to make her favorite food; you guys want to come over for dinner? I want her to meet everyone.”

“Everyone? Even the twins?”

“Even the twins.”  
\------  
Alan Deaton was taking inventory when soft thumps of boots tore his attention away from the inventory he was taking. In all his life, only two people could enter his office and only be noticed when they damn well pleased.

And one of them is dead.

“You should have called me earlier Deaton.” A firm voice, thinly covered in anger, broke the silence in the room.

“Hello Giovanna, I hear the Amazon forest doesn’t have great reception.” Deaton turned around and gave the appealingly young woman who entered his office a fake smile. She had not aged from when he saw six years ago. Her oive skin was a bit darker thanks to the South American sun, but she still had the same young oval face and bright golden eyes that coined the phrase 'if looks could kill'. He put his clipboard down and stood across from her with only a metal table between them.

“Do not mock me Deaton.” She snarled at him, sounding more like a wolf than a human. “You were to call the satellite phone should anything of importance happen in Beacon Hills and you did not.”

“Unfortunately for you, I was not to do anything.” Deaton replied with a mocking smile on his face. “I never made you any promises.”

“I haven’t slept in three days and just found out that you actively enticed teenagers to put themselves in danger as well as failed to fulfill your duties as the Hale emissary.” Giovanna dented the metal beneath her fingers slightly, a demonstration of her strength. She did not enjoy rudeness. “Do not mock me."

“It was not your place to be involved in what was happening.” Deaton explained, moving his hand slowly and natural to the brass dagger hidden underneath the table as to not arouse suspicion in the woman in front of him. He doubted it would do anything to stop Giovanna if he needed to use it, but it was more a force of habit.

“My place is to be involved in whatever involves my family, you pompous sack of-“

“Doctor Deaton, is everything all right?” Giovanna was cut off by Scott entering the office. He was holding a backpack on his shoulder and a great look of concern was on his face, which easily morphed into confusion at seeing Giovanna so close to the veterinarian with a murderous look. 

Scott could smell the anger rolling off her.

“Hello Scott, pleasure to see you again! My how you've grown!" The anger that Scott had smelled just a few seconds ago seemed to disappear as soon as she saw him. In her anger, Giovanna had failed to notice someone entering the office and now had to make up with awkward politeness.

"It's nice to see you as well Miss de' Medici?"  
"Please Scott, you always called me Aunt Gia, you always did! I will be leaving your office now Doctor Deaton, but be assured I won’t leave Beacon Hills. I'm guessing I will see you tonight Scott, so I'll speak to you later.” Giovanna smiled sweetly and made to leave the office, only pausing briefly at the door. “A proposito, saresti morto prima che la daga me ferito; addio Alan.”

A few seconds after Giovanna left Scott turned to Deaton and noticed the look on his face. The one he has when he needs to tell Scott bad news.

“Why does Stiles aunt hate you so much?”

“Remember when I said that giving power to the nemeton would attract things to Beacon Hills?” Scott nodded, glancing at the door as Deaton spoke. He had heard a car driving away and could no longer hear the woman’s heart beat. “Meet the person that those things are scared of.”

\-----

Giovanna looked at her reflection in the mirror. Her eyes were sunken and tired looking, three days of traveling without sleep does that to a person. It was only a week ago that she felt the pull of to nemeton roar back to life and knew she had to come back to Beacon Hills extremely fast. It had been six years since she last saw Stiles and John, when Claudia died she couldn’t stay in Beacon Hills anymore and took a job to train an emissary for a new pack that formed in the Amazon forest.

She tried to keep in touch, sending letters and pictures. Stiles would tell her about what was going on in his life and John would tell her what was actually happening with his son. Giovanna had been really glad that Stiles and Scott made new friends, from experience she knows that as much as you may love the only friend you have, it gets lonely to not have anyone else to speak to. 

In retrospect, Giovanna should have realized something was wrong when Derek Hale being back in town and Scott being miraculously cured from asthma were written in the same letter. But she had put a mental block on anything ever happening to her boys; Scott may not have been related to her but Stiles and he did grow up together which meant that whenever she was with Stiles, Scott was tagging along. It didn’t help that Scott’s dad was a cad, so the only male figure he had in his life was Deaton and John Stilinski. Anyways, Scott was basically family and therefore, one of her boys. 

And Stiles, her sweet Stiles. Being diagnosed with two mental disorders and then losing your mother just four years later is hard on anyone, especially a little boy. Whenever she thinks back to when Stiles had a panic attack in the middle of class in Kindergarten, she always wants to cry. Giovanna remembers Claudia getting the call from the school while they were gossiping on what was happening around town and then speeding to the school only to find Stiles in the nurses office, sniffling and bundled into a little ball while holding the hand of another little boy.

“ _Jackson was mean to him and when I punched him in the face, Stiles got really sad._ ” The little boy avowed rapidly, like he had been afraid Stiles was going to get in trouble for what happened. “ _I’m sorry._ ”

From that day forward, Scott had been glued to Stiles like he was his little protector.

The house looked the same as when Giovanna had left; even the garden work in the front that Claudia had worked so hard on was well kept. A variety of plants to aide in the protection of the house from most things that would want to harm her family adorned the front in a variety of colors.

“ _Giovanna, li proteggono per me._ ” She remembers Claudia saying as she dug at the dirt. “ _Plants are just plants if there is no belief in them, Giuliano is just eleven and John is a worry wart. I’m not going to involve them in our world._ ”

Parking the car just behind the old jeep she had left behind when she left, Giovanna slapped her cheeks lightly to give them a bit of color before getting her suitcase and gift bags. She didn’t even bother to knock, the key she had from six years ago still worked on the door.

“Is that Claudia’s famous polenta and stewed chicken that I smell?” The delicious scent hit her like a train when she opened the door and she was instantly reminded that she had not eaten since the previous night.

Giovanna could not contain her laughter as she saw her favorite nephew stirring the polenta rigorously with Claudia’s frilly pink apron tied across his waist. "Aunt Gia!" Stiles removed the polenta from the fire and proceeded to wrap his arms around Giovanna.

Stiles hugged his aunt very tightly. She was a carbon copy of his mom, save for the thin scar on her cheek and the badass attitude she has, and it felt good to hold her. Aunt Gia was the thing that best reminded him of his mom.

Giovanna smiled as she returned the hug just as tight. Last time Stiles had seen her face to face he had told her she was a horrible person for reminding him daily that his mother had passed away. It was the angry words of a child who lost their mother; it was something Giovanna could understand perfectly. Of course, in classic Stiles fashion, he had called her two days later when she was about to leave for Brazil, apologizing and saying that he loved her alot and not to leave him. There was no way anyone could ever stay angry at Stiles.

"You have grown so much piccolo!" If tears were shed during the embrace, Giovanna clearly ignored them and so did Stiles. "What happened to the scrawny little kid that could talk my ear off all day? You are so skinny, is you dad feeding you? You need to eat more piccolo!"

"Puberty happened Gia and he still talks everyone's ears off." A familiar and tired voice came from the kitchen entrance. Sheriff Stilinski smiled and opened his arms for a hug from his sister-in-law, which she gladly indulged him. "You however, don't look like you aged a day!"

Giovanna laughed and playfully hit John on his arm. "You ol' charmer you!"

"Oh Stiles, there is a group of hungry teenagers on my lawn. You wouldn't know anything about that would you?"

"Oh great, they're here! Let's eat!"


	2. Chapter 2

One by one the house was filled with teenagers and everyone decided to migrate to the living room. Since there were not enough spots to eat at the table, the boys were overruled by the girls and thus had to eat while holding their plates.

Brief introductions were made when they had entered the house, Scott and Stiles made sure of that. Ethan, Aiden, Danny, Lydia, Allison, and Isaac where their new friends and a refreshing sight for those that remember the two boys eating alone at lunch because the other kids thought them to be too weird. They were all very polite and gave Giavanna kisses on the cheek, a very Italian greeting which pleased her (there was no doubt that Stiles had told them it would grant them instant love). 

Lydia however, was somewhat uncomfortable around her and was not hiding it as well as she thought..

Giovanna sometimes had that effect on people.

She also understood that it may be the timing of her reappearance, right after the nemeton was recharged (which she had no doubt whatsoever this entire group of teenagers were involved). With the exception of those she assumed to be werewolves and the Danny kid, everyone was sporting battle wounds.

There was small chatter here and there, but mostly everyone was just focused on enjoying the food. Everyone seemed extremely uncomfortable with one another and Giovanna took the time to gently observe them. Ethan and Danny sat next to each other on the couch, she could tell that they were the type of couple that were always together and missing each other when they weren’t. Allison, the girl joking around with Isaac (and the girl Scott kept giving puppy dog looks to) was charming and polite, although she needed to learn how to hide the blade in her boot a little bit better; nevertheless, she was exactly what one would expect from any child of Chris Argent.

Thank god she did not inherit any of her mothers traits.  
Isaac was just a cutie. He reminded her of her eldest son: a bit jumpy, a sweet smile, and a wonderful taste in style. He had also been very polite, going as far as to greet him in very broken Italian, but it just made her want to hug him. Aiden ate standing directly behind Lydia, like he was protecting her from poor old Giovanna. And Lydia, well Lydia was stuck between ignoring Giovanna completely and giving her very confused looks. 

Giovanna decided to break the silence between them all.

“Piccolo, do you have a girlfriend?” The question was out of nowhere, but it had given a little bit of life into the room.

“Aunt Gia!” The outraged cry from Stiles brought a small round of chuckles from across the room.

Giovanna brought her hands up in the air as an apology, “A boyfriend then?”

Stiles was blushing so hard when the words left her mouth that everyone in the room was roaring with laughter.

 

“Lo ti odio.” Stiles muttered as he got up and headed to the kitchen.

“Tu mi ami, non negarlo! Lo sono tua zia preferita!” The playful banter she always had with Stiles in Italian was something she sorely missed. After Claudia passed away she had been afraid that Stiles would lose the language, and so had forced him to write to her only in Italian.

“Siete mia unica zia!” Stiles shouted back and was only given his aunts boisterous laughter as a response.

“I didn’t know Stiles spoke Italian.” Isaac asked at no one in particular. A couple of those present nodded in agreement.

“I did.” Both Scott and Lydia said in unison.

“I met Stiles in his mother’s after school Italian lessons back in the third grade.” Lydia responded when everyone looked at her for explanation.

“Ah yes! I remember you now!” Giovanna clapped her hands in excitement, “First day of lessons I remember Stiles coming home crying because a red-headed girl was mean to him. You could practically see the little hearts over his head thought!”

Lydia gave her a quick smile and got up from the table, “I’m going to check on what Stiles is doing, excuse me.”

Giovanna watched Lydia go into the kitchen with mild amusement as she brought the glass of wine to her lips. Lydia was so uncomfortable around her to the point it became amusing.

\----

When Stiles arrived in the kitchen, he noticed a buzzing coming from his phone on the counter. A text message from Cora. 

_**Hey Stiles, Derek and I are in New York now. We have some business here and once we deal with it, we’ll return to Beacon Hill.** _

_Business? Deal with it? You guys sound like the goddamn mafia._

_**Derek said for you to take the gun and leave the cannoli? I’m really confused and tired, so I’m going to go to sleep. Good night!** _

_Lol, good night Cora tell the sourwolf good night too!_

Stiles had made sure that Cora had his number before she and Derek left town and  
he was glad for that life choice. During the last week they had been gone, they texted everyday and proved to be great friends.

Plus she kept checking in and telling him what was up with her and Derek; its always nice to be kept in the loop.

Lydia arrived in the kitchen and let out the shiver she had been trying so hard to suppress.

“You okay there Lydia?” Stiles questioned as he began taking bowls out from the cupboard.

“You’re aunt freaks me out,” She was given a weird look from Stiles and quickly responded before Stiles could, “I don’t know why, she just does.”

“C’mon Lydia, this is the woman who taught me how to ride a bicycle, what could she be doing that freaks you out?”

“Like I said, I don’t know.” Lydia explained as she took out a carton of ice cream from the freezer and began to help Stiles. “But something about her doesn’t seem right. I’m supposed to focus on my feelings right? Well, every time I am near your aunt I feel like I just met the grave digger.”

“Grave digger…” Stiles mumbled to himself in disbelief. “Lydia, two weeks ago you didn’t even know why you kept finding the dead bodies and now you think my aunt is a serial killer?”

“I didn’t say she was a serial killer!” Lydia interjected before Stiles could say whatever else he was going to say. “I said it was a feeling. Besides, what was she even doing in the middle of the rainforest for six years? Teaching?”

“Oh you’ve caught me Lydia, I was actually running an international drug cartel from deep within the forest.” Giovanna was leaning against the entry to the kitchen, a dead serious expression on her face. “Since you now know what I was actually doing, I’m going to have to kill you now.”

“Aunt Gia, stop scaring my friends!” Stiles scolded his dear aunt, pointing an ice cream scoop at her. “It was difficult and life threatening to get them.”

“Alright, geez! I’m sorry Lydia, sarcasm tends to be a second language to me.” Giovanna looked anything but apologetic, but Lydia decided to go along with it.

Keep your enemies close and all of that.

“I wonder where Stiles gets it from then.”

“C’mon, I have some pictures of toddler Stiles wearing his mother's dress and wasting about $50 of make up on his face that I am sure will make it up to you.” Giovanna put her arms around the younger girls shoulders, ignoring the brief stiffness that followed, and led the girl back to the living room.

“That sounds like blackmail material.” Lydia smirked as she allowed herself to be led.

“Only if you use it correctly Lydia, only if you use it correctly!”  
\----  
“So, how did all of you meet?” Giovanna asked as she put another spoonful of ice cream in her mouth. “Scott and Stiles were complete nerds when I left - “hey!” - and even though I love them very much and in my heart they are the coolest kids in town, you all don’t seem like nerds.”

“Well, I play lacrosse with them and Ethan is now friends with them as well, so it just fit I guess.” Danny smiled as he leaned into Ethan.

“We have some classes together and I kind of live with Scott at the moment.” Isaac said next, mixing the ice cream in his bowl before looking up at everyone with a smile that made Giovanna want to get up and pinch his cheeks. “It was either Scott or Derek’s creepy uncle, so my choice was very easy.”

Giovanna’s spoon clattered against her bowl as it dropped from her hand in shock, “Derek Hale’s creepy uncle? As in Derek Hale’s creepy uncle Peter Hale?”

“Yeah, you know him?”

“You could say that. How come Peter was an option for you, I don’t know many teenagers that the state sends to live in a burn unit.”

“Oh he got better.” Scott intervened, turning Giovanna’s attention from Isaac to Scott.

“What? That doesn’t make any sense!” With every second passing Giovanna seemed to be getting more and more agitated making Stiles cut in to try and diffuse his anger prone aunt.

“The burn unit at the hospital is really advance now, skin grafts that a really short time to take and he was able to get better.”

“People that were in his state do not get better with a snap of the fingers Stiles, Hale or no. When I left Beacon Hills Peter had moderate cerebral hypoxia and third degree burns covering most of his body and half of his face. The meat on his bones were cooked medium-well. Skin was crispy. No hair!”

“Okay! I see that this is a touchy subject and is going to take a while, but not on a school night.” John intervened getting up and rubbing Gia’s shoulder in an attempt to calm her. ”I think its time for everyone to head home and get a good night sleep.”  
\----  
Everyone left to their homes after the ice cream, it was thursdayl night after all. After the dishes had been washed and the living room organized, John excused himself to go to sleep claiming that early shifts, and not curly fries, would be the death of him.

Stiles and Giovanna then sat on the couch, a decision to watch the Nolan reboot of Batman, as she had yet to watch any of the three films, was made by Stiles with the promise that “it was the most awesome movie ever.”.

Half way through the movie Giovanna noticed soft snores coming from beside her and saw Stiles had fallen asleep, clutching a blanket tightly around his torso. She ran her fingers through his hair lightly to not awake him. Stiles, even though he hated being called it, was her little Giuliano. When she had lost her children, she thought she would never find joy again, but along came little Giuliano.

Standing up from the couch, she shut off the tv and helped Stiles lay down more comfortably on the couch. Giovanna kissed his forehead and proceeded to put her shoes and jacket on before leaving out the back door.

Not realising that Stiles had woken up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a short and uneventful chapter, but I wanted to shed a little bit of back story on Giovanna and her ties to Beacon Hills before I continue. There will be a tiny bit more back story on the next chapter, but we finally get to more Stiles-centric grounds as well.
> 
> Translation:  
> I hate you  
> You love me, don't deny it. I am your favourite aunt!  
> You are my only aunt!


	3. Chapter 3

It had been a split decision on Stiles part to follow his aIt had been a split decision on Stiles part to follow his aunt out of the house. What Lydia had said earlier had eaten at him and while they watched the movie, the darkness in him felt like it was pulling itself towards his aunt; like it wanted to leave his body and go into hers. He had felt it from the moment he heard the car go up the driveway, but had thought it was due to his nervousness. It was only after everyone had left and he was cleaning up the kitchen with Giovanna that he realized what it was happening. Despite the feeling, Stiles ignored it and fell in a light sleep and woke up when his aunt kissed his forehead. 

And now he had trekked through the woods, in the middle of the night, following Giovanna for a good hour as she strolled along. The past year of running through these woods with werewolves had made the normally clumsy teenager able to sneak in them quite effectively. 

Giovanna stopped at a clearing in the woods and for Stiles, it was like a hand clenched his heart. His dear aunt was walking around the nemeton, her hand lightly caressing the stump of the still dead looking tree in seemingly random movement. He witnessed Giovanna reach into her combat boots and take out a dagger to carve a hole in the middle of the stump, exactly where she stopped caressing the tree. 

She then proceeded to cut her palm deeply and hold it over the hole she had just carved on the tree. Stiles had to clap his hand over his own mouth to stop himself from creating any noise as a light emitted from where his aunts blood fell on the tree and a small sapling sprouted. 

“You can come now.” His aunt said aloud and Stiles's stomach dropped to the floor. He had been caught and now had to confront his aunt. What would he say? Hey Aunt Gia, those are some sweet dark magic skills you got there. 

Just as Stiles was about to step out of the trees that hid him, he caught out of the corner of his eyes small bright yellow lights floating towards the tree. 

“It’s all yours now, take care of it while it grows please!” Giovanna smiled at the tiny lights and proceeded to basically skip away, deeper into the woods and well of any beaten tracks. 

Stiles followed her, deciding to go around the clearing than through it in the possible event that the lights would not be benevolent to him as they had been to his aunt. 

Who knows, maybe they would want all of his blood instead of a few drops. 

It was getting harder to keep track of his aunt and be quiet as he had been previously and soon Stiles lost his aunt to the darkness of the virgin forest. He decided to head in the direction he thought Giovanna had headed towards and soon came upon a medium sized lake filled with swans. An old lake house stood on the east bank and his aunt to the north, the quarter moon making it easy for him to see. 

Stiles moved towards his aunt very slowly, keeping watch on both his steps and his aunt as she washed her bloody hands on the lake water. A swan came up to her and duck underneath the water, where a beautiful naked woman rose up from the water with Giovanna’s hands in hers. Her skin appeared golden against the moonlight and her hair, which tumbled down to the dimples on her back in soft waves, was as white as snow. 

Why can’t he make beautiful woman pop out of the water? Even his aunt has better game than him. 

“God kveld, Giovanna.” The woman spoke in a language he didn’t understand, but he could tell it was Scandinavian. “It has been a long time my friend, how did you know we were here?” 

“Yes it had Oda; I saw the wedge flying back, its not everyday you see a wedge of swans flying east in Northern California and decided to stop by for a visit. Thank you by the way.” Giovanna waved her hand in the air, the deep cut completely healed. “How is the family? Living in Beacon Hills is very different to living near a big city like Oslo.” 

“The herd is good, we had three new cygnets since we last saw each other and they are quickly learning our way. They will start school in the following week, I doubt they will feel the difference. Why don’t we walk around the lake, we have much to catch up on.” 

His aunt nodded and walked along the lake bed as the naked woman walked beside her on the water. In his concentration of what the women had been saying, Stiles had not noticed the swan that dipped under the water as it had approached him, nor the man that came up from the water and stood behind him. As he went to take a step to follow his aunt a deep voice with a thick Norwegian accent stopped him. 

“Allo there!” 

Stiles denies ever having yelped or slipped and fallen on his back when the man spoke, there was definitely some moss where he was standing. A quick look towards his aunts direction gave him a bit of relief, she had not heard him. 

“Are you alright? I do not mean to frighten you.” The man extended a hand to Stiles, helping him back up. 

“Yeah, I’m okay.” Stiles replied and he stood up. 

And you are a fine specimen of Norwegian nakedness. Stiles thought to himself as he absolutely did not check the man in front of him out. He could say however, that the Norwegian towered over him. He was of muscular built (much more muscular than he or his friends), but instead of coming off as intimidating, it was more like standing in front of a teddy bear. The man had a kind smile and although the short beard framing his face made him appear older, Stiles could tell the man was actually very young; he had these bright blue eyes that captures his attention like a moth to a light and tan skin that glistened with the droplets of water that travelled down his chest down to his- 

Well, Stiles could say that God had blessed the man greatly in certain parts of his body. 

“Are you sure you are alright? You have dazed look.” The man chuckled, which made Stiles laugh along with him. 

“Yes, I’m okay dude.” 

“My name is Thor, what is yours?” Thor smiled brightly now, showing a row or perfect white teeth, as he extended his hand for Stiles to shake. 

“Stiles...Is your name really Thor or are you pulling my leg?” 

“I am holding you hand Stiles, how could I be pulling on your leg?” 

“It’s just a phrase, I didn’t mean it literally.” 

“Ahh, okay!” Thor rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment, showing just how muscular he was to Stiles. “American sayings are weird, I was worried you had hurt your head when you fell!” 

“Oh my God, you are adorable!” Stiles had not meant to say that allowed (and instantly regretted he had done so), but the accent and lack of understanding of American culture was making him all giddy on the inside, who doesn’t love foreign men?. 

From the smile that was still plastered on Thor’s face and the step he took forward that placed him right in Stiles’s personal space said that the Norwegian did not mind Stiles’s outburst. 

“I think you good looking as well, Stiles.” Thor breathed out as his hand came to rest on Stiles’s waist, holding him there. Thor rested his cheek next to Stiles's and whispered into his ear, “Why not remove some of these clothes and join me in the water? There is something I want to show you underneath the water.” 

“I don’t think I should...” Stiles shuddered out, he was not used to having an extremely physically attractive male this close to him (and in any other situation he would’ve already been naked), but something about it didn’t feel right. 

“Why not? Are you busy at the moment?” Thor jerked back and looked Stiles in the eye with a look that resembled a kicked puppy. 

“No?” He had been doing something in the forest, but he couldn’t really remember what it was in the first place and Thor was being so nice. 

“Then join me for a swim, I want to show you something underneath the water.” The smile that appeared back on Thor’s face pleased Stiles, it made him happy that Thor was smiling because of him. Besides, Thor really wanted him to see what was underwater. 

Maybe it was a hidden treasure of something. 

“Well, I don’t see why not!” 

As Stiles stripped down to his boxer shorts, he heard a faint voice yelling for Stiles to stop undressing and to not get in the water, but he really couldn’t figure out who. It was probably the voice inside of him that always told him when something was a bad decision, but Thor was wading in the water, waiting for him to go in, why should he listen? 

When was the last time there was a hot naked man hollering for him in the water? That’s right, never. 

When Stiles was waist deep in the water, Thor came up to him and wrapped an arm around his waist, holding him securely in his grip and planting light kisses on his shoulder. In his arms, Stiles felt safe, as though nothing could hurt him as long as Thor kept holding on to him that tightly. 

Like he could breath underwater. 

\---- 

“We felt the nemeton’s power return last week and a decision was made to return to Beacon Hills.” Oda explained as they walked along the margin. Giovanna stopped being awkward a long time ago and was used to seeing her old friend walking about naked in the moonlight. 

“I felt it too, I was in the Amazon when the nightmare came to me. I saw the darach that gave it its power back, talk about someone that needed plastic surgery, but I cannot feel her power any longer.” Most importantly, she saw the darach create a earthquake that nearly killed her closest living relative. 

“Tell me Giovanna, is the nemeton filled with light or with darkness?” Oda stopped in front of the herds lake house. It was a question that everyone was curious about and that no one could answer. 

“I do not know Oda. I placed a blood cleanse on the stump which released some evil, but only a small sapling rose from it. The tree pixies are working on it as we speak and hopefully it will be in balance with nature again; neither light nor dark.” Giovanna gave her friend a look that her friend understood very well, there was plenty more work to do. “Deaton and I never got along, but I will seek Marin tomorrow and see if she will help me place a spell or rune around the nemeton. I would rather the pixies work without interruption from anyone, especially humans.” “It’s understandable, I saw their light flickering in the night and had wondered what they were up-” Oda was cut off by a male voice shouting in the night. 

“The water is great Stiles, undress quicker!” 

“Stiles?” Giovanna questioned to herself as she squinted her vision to see across the lake and cold fear draped over her. “Stiles! Put your clothes back on!” 

Giovanna took off running towards the other side of the lake bank. “Put your clothes back on Stiles and don’t get in the water!” She shouted in desperation and she forced her feet to go faster. When Stiles entered the water and the swan in front of him embraced her nephew, tears began to flow down her cheeks. 

“That is my nephew, he is with me and I am a guest of Oda! Do not dishonor my presence swan knight!” She roared at the man already holding her piccolo underneath the water. As she jumped into the water the man pulled Stiles back up, who was sputtering and choking on the water he had already swallowed. 

“I am sorry, I did not know he was with you.” The man spoke hastily as he brought Stiles back to shore and laid him down on the forest floor. 

“Stiles, are you okay? Don’t cough too much.” Giovanna moved the man away and held one of Stiles’s hand as she placed another on the middle of his chest. Her hand glowed slightly at the palm and she could feel some of the water start to leave her nephews chest. A warm wind picked up around them, swiveling the leaves in a whirlwind fashion 

“I am sorry Stiles, I thought you were trespassing.” The man began again as he attempted to make sure they knew he was apologetic. 

“Look here asshole, I am still trying to decide whether I'm going to cook turkey or swan for thanksgiving dinner; shut up or I will make my decision a whole lot quicker.” Giovanna snapped at him, causing him to move back a few spaces and stand next to Oda, who was gave him disapproving looks. Giovanna turned her attention back to Stiles “Stiles, you need to breathe slowly, you have water in your lungs and I’m trying to remove it.” 

“What happened?” Spoke hoarsely and with a bit of confusion as he began to come to. 

“Stiles, it is Thor; I thought you were intruder, so I tried to drown you.” Thor smiled nervously as he rubbed the back of his head and tried his best to not look at the elder swan beside him.“Sorry about that!” 

“What?” 

“Piccolo, you okay?” Giovanna asked with worry heavy in her voice. In truth she had expected a bit more dramatic of an answer. 

“What?” Stiles just repeated his answer, looking between his aunt and the two Norwegian swan people behind her. 

“Good job Thor, you broke my nephew.” Giovanna accused Thor, pointing a finger at him as she did so. “I did not break him, he is just a bit wet!” The tall man argued back, pointing at Stiles in emphasis. 

Stiles decided, while his aunt and Thor argued back and forth like children on his mental state, that this was just too much for him and he took off running in his boxer shorts and shoeless in a direction he hoped was towards his house. 

This shit was just too fucked up for him to deal with. 

Stiles got up so quickly that Giovanna had to think about what exactly had occurred for a second before she gathered his clothes and ran after him in desperation. This was not how she had planned on telling him. 

“Piccolo, slow down! You are going to hurt yourself!” 

“Don’t you piccolo me!” Stiles stopped abruptly in a clearing to shout back at his aunt. “What the hell was that? Swans turning into naked people, swarms of little lights floating in the air; its like a fucking fairy book!” 

“Who piccolo, they are who’s not what’s.” Giovanna walked calmly to Stiles and handed him his clothes. He would be a wet, but at least his clothes were dry. 

“Oh my god, I don’t care! An incredibly hot who just tried to drown me!” He quarreled back as he put on his jeans and t-shirt back on. 

“In his defense, you were creeping around his house in a creeper fashion.” 

“Are you serious? And what of that thing that you did with the air and the leaves and the thing!” Stiles stopped putting his shoe mid way and looked at his aunt as though he had a great epiphany. “Oh my god, are you a witch?” 

“Really Stiles, a witch?” Giovanna’s slightly mocking tone made Stiles glare at her, but he had not stopped freaking out. “I’m a templar and stop saying ‘oh my god’ so much, it is annoying.” 

“Oh my god, if you’re a witch does that mean my mom was a witch? Was my mom a witch too?” Stiles exasperated, throwing his shoe on the ground in anger. 

“No, she was a **templar**.” Giovanna did not know how much more she could emphasize the world. Beings and the types of those beings did not enjoy being confused with other types, Giovanna thought them lucky that no witches were about to hear Stiles as he shouted about. 

“What does that even mean!” Stiles moaned out in half defeat and half confusion. 

“Templars were knights created by the catholic church to make sure druids weren’t going on sacrifice sprees, it’s a mixture of humans, emissaries, and some other species as well.” 

“What?” Stiles finally stopped throwing a well deserved fit and focused on his aunt. 

“Your mom was quite the templar, I am not too shabby either if I may say so myself.” 

“Are you saying you and my mom went around the world hunting druids? Is that why you and Deaton hate each other?” 

“Deaton hates me because he thinks I took advantage of Marin and thus does not deserve any respect as an emissary or as a templar, but he does not listen when I say that she was 18 and thus a consenting adult.” She waved her hand in the air, as she always did when she wanted to dismiss something. “And we never hunted druids, only darachs; sometimes we would teach new emissaries that could not learn it from their families or go to places where a new nemeton sprung up to check it out, we even settled territorial disputes between beings.” 

“Do you have power?” Stiles spoke after a few minutes, after he had digested the information given to him. 

“A lot of beings think so, your mom and I absorbed a lot of energy in our line of work and that transformers into a lot of power inside minimal human bodies.” As soon as the words left her mouth, Giovanna knew she had phrased it incorrectly. She saw the tears form in his eyes and fall to ground as he tried to contain his emotions inside. Nor Giovanna or Claudia had the kind of power Stiles had thought of. 

“If you are so powerful why didn’t you help my mom! Why didn’t you try to help her! Wasn’t she powerful too, why wouldn’t she heal herself?” Stiles screamed in a broken voice as tears gushed down his face. 

Stiles flew at his aunt, punching her in a blind rage fused with bitter sadness. Giovanna just stood there taking it, letting his fists hit her chest, face, and stomach without moving an inch as if the blows had all the strength of a small puppy. She had power, the power to place spells, to be strong, and to be able to take the blows Stiles was giving her with minimal damage. But as much as Giovanna wanted, the power he requested of her was impossible. So she let Stiles take out his anger on her. To her Stiles needed this, to let out all the rage and sadness he had been holding in since his mothers death. He had to grow up so fast taking care of his father that he didn’t have the time to heal himself, none of them did. 

His blows quickly lessened and soon he was wrapping his arms around his aunt, his arms holding her tight as though he was afraid she was going to go. “Why did she leave me?” He wailed as he hanged on to Giovanna. Her arms wrapped around him tightly and rubbed small circles on his back as he continued to cry. 

A small light began to float its way towards Stiles and it glowed bigger and bigger until small child appeared. She had very fair skin, as though she was never out in the sun very long coupled with dark green hair that would move about and glisten, giving the illusion of leaves being moved by the wind. When she opened her eyes, two purple gemstone like pupils glistened back at Stiles. She was wearing a dress made from maple leaves organised in such a fashion that it appeared to be an upside down lily. The little girl removed a white handkerchief from a pocket and wiped Stiles tears with it. 

“It’s okay, parents sometimes go to heaven.” The little girl smiled at Stiles, her voice containing a slight french accent. “Mémé says that sometimes the big tree in the sky calls them to help it grow so there is more space when we go, but they are still watching over us. She says that our ancesesestors never really die, they just move from this world to the next like we all will someday. So don’t think your mommy left you, she’s just making sure that you’ll have a nice place to live when you meet up with her!” 

“You are a very smart little girl, do you know that?” Stiles smiled at the little girl, an occasional hiccup escaping his lips. 

“I know!” She smiled brightly, dotting the handkerchief again on Stiles’s cheeks. A small light floated nearby and buzzed violently making the little girl sigh dramatically. “Mémé says I have to go back to camp and help with setting up. Feel better!” 

As the little girl transformed into the a ball of light again, Giovanna helped Stiles stand up. With a slight ruffle of his hair and an arm around his shoulder, Stiles and his aunt began the hike back home. 

\---- 

“Pixies, swan people, templars...what else from mythology is real?” Stiles asked his aunt after a few minutes of silence. 

“Most things.” She responded with a smile, glad that Stiles felt well enough to talk. “Not that many different species, just a lot of different names, but most mythological beings are real like werewolves for example.” 

“I guess you know about Scott and the others…” Stiles smiled sheepishly at his aunt. 

“Yes piccolo, I know about them; I even know about Lydia.” Giovanna laid a hand on his shoulder to stop him with a serious look adorned in her face “Do not tell them what I do or even that I have some power; they won’t be stumbling in the dark, but the time is not ready for them to know...well, Scott might now, he did in fact see me dent a metal table in Deatons office.” Her smile mirroring Stiles's, a family trait one could say, which was met with a boisterous laugh from her nephew. 

“I can’t believe you did that and I hardly doubt it, you know how Scott is; he didn’t believe he was a werewolf until he actually transformed on a full moon. Even then it was a hard concept for him to grasp.” 

“Hey, Scott’s not slow, he just likes to put a veil over his eyes and look at the best possible reason for everything.” 

“Okay, I won’t say anything, but it’s really cool though. It would’ve been awesome if one of them didn’t attempt to murder me, but still cool.” Giovanna laughed loudly and wrapped an arm around Stiles, keeping him close to her. 

“Thor is sorry you know, he can’t help his nature to protect the herds property. Swans are extremely territorial.” Stiles only gave a shrug back in response. In truth, Stiles wasn’t even that angry at Thor for trying to kill him, enough creature and people have already tried to do that. It was the fact that he thought Thor had actually liked him, although he now realises that part of the attraction he felt towards Thor was a glamor. 

“Let’s get back to your house; you have school tomorrow and I have to go job hunting among other things.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh God guys, I am so bad at back and forth dialogue. It felt so awkward to me so please give me tips!!
> 
> I hope you enjoy this one because despite the dialogue I had fun writing it. 
> 
> Translations:  
> God kveld - Good evening (Norwegian)  
> Mémé - Granny (french

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first Teen Wolf fanfiction, so I would love some criticism to know what I can improve! It's unbeta'd and English is my second language, so sorry for any mistakes!
> 
> I made Stiles name Giuliano because I've heard non-Italians try to say it and it just sounds funny/cannot pronounce it so it goes a bit with cannon and it will be explained a bit in the future. 
> 
> Here is the translation in order of appearance, its Italian by the way!
> 
> By the way, you'd be dead before the dagger wounded me; good bye Alan.
> 
> Protect them for me.
> 
> Kid


End file.
